Talk To Me

I found myself standing in the middle of the library, slowly turning around, hoping that a book would jump off of the shelf and cry “TAKE ME HOME!!!” I know that probably won’t happen, but I would settle for a book that is sticking just slightly out from the others on the shelf. Maybe a book with a gold and white spine, I do tend to judge books by their covers. I have probably read several hundred of the fifty thousand or so books in this room and I am sure that somewhere on these shelves there will be a couple of thousand books I would like.

The publishers know that most people are like me and they make the covers appealing, even for shit books, so they all look kind of good. I sometimes will Google best sellers from years past to find a book that I’ve never heard of. Sometimes the best sellers are shit books too, look at “Waging Heavy Peace” by Neil Young and “Life” by Keith Richards. The book by Neil could have been under a hundred pages, in fact it should have been under a hundred pages…well under. Keith’s book is fine if you want to read about a thoroughly detestable human being that happens to be famous. What a wanker!

During one of my turns, I saw a woman who looked kind of like a friend of mine from the back. It turns out that she looked like my friend from the front too. I had intended to call Ollie and set up a coffee date, but one thing led to another and that other wasn’t calling Ollie. We chatted for a bit and decided to have coffee then and there! Well, not there but over at the Tim Horton’s. We caught up on the news, asked about spouses and grandkids and just generally had a good gossip. Time flew and before you know it, we had to head our separate ways, promising to do this again real soon.

One of the things that makes retirement fun is that you have time to spend any way you want to. You can meet a friend or acquaintance in the library and take an hour to visit and catch up. Too often when you are caught up in living your life, raising children and earning a living, you fail to take the time out to enjoy and appreciate your friends.

There have been numerous times that I would run into someone and after just a quick hello we would say how we should get together for coffee, but now isn’t a good time. I have regretted not making the effort to talk at the time and convinced myself that I was too busy to spend the time. I doubt I was ever too busy to have a coffee and I wonder how my life would have changed had I taken the time. Perhaps I would have more friends now. Perhaps I would be a more rounded individual. Perhaps I would have more faith in others. Perhaps I would simply be a better person.

It’s never too late to become a better person, so now I try to spend quality time on the occasions that I run into people I know. A lifetime pattern of behaviour is difficult to change, but I can do it.

Now, I have to hope that those I run into actually want to talk to me.